Women Land and Property Rights

The programme focuses on using courts to challenge discriminatory laws that adversely impact on women’s ownership, control and access to land and property rights. Examples of cases that we support include the following:

The failure to accord women an equitable and equal share of property at the dissolution of marriage, whether by death or divorce

Lack of equal rights to inheritance

Laws that exclude or restrict women’s access to property rights

Exclusion of women in the administration of deceased estates processes

Emerging threats to women’s access to land posed by extractive industries and land grabs, among others.

Current Projects

Working with partner organisations, Global Initiative on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) and IGED Africa to develop a general comment on article 7(d) of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the rights of women in Africa.